2009 - A Desert Rat's Diary

SUNRISE - JANUARY 1, 2009

Well, greetings once again, everyone! I hadn't planned to do another blog this year, as time seems all too short these days, but I just couldn't help myself. I've been collecting miscellaneous pictures along the way, have taken on a fun and rewarding project involving iPods, and -- here's the kicker -- I've accepted a permanent position as a Visitor Use Assistant here in Big Bend National Park! I guess I'm just going to have to find the time, aren't I? A permanent position is something I've wanted and dreaded for quite some time now -- wanted, because I'm getting a little tired of the 3000-mile jaunts every six months which require me to uproot myself; dreaded, because now I won't have those 3000-mile jaunts to see this wonderful and diverse country of ours. However, my new job does require me to take two months' worth of furlough (unpaid leave) every year, so I guess I'll just have to get my kicks on Route 66 during that time and attempt to document the western leg of the Mother Road at some point. This may turn out to be a good thing after all. (Of course it'll be a good thing, Doug; it's just going to be different.) So, anyway, that's the news from this end so far. A photo entry will be following shortly. Adios for now, amigos and amigas.

MORNING DRIVE

Okay, here we go, folks! The year started off on a sad note, as I had to attend the funeral of my cousin Mary's father in Austin. In order to get there in time, I left here at 4:00 in the morning in the inky desert darkness. Somewhere between Sanderson and Del Rio, I took this shot as the sky began to wake up. Looks like it may be time for another dose of coffee.

CACTUS WREN NEST

On my way back home, I happened to look over at just the right time to see this Cactus Wren's nest in a cholla, one of our many varieties of desert cactus out here. What a great find.

PIGS IN THE YARD

This particular photo I happen to call "Pigs In The Yard" although the javelina (ha-va-LEEN-ah) isn't really a pig at all. It may look like a pig, especially with that snout and all, but due to its elaborate stomach makeup and rather intractable temperament -- you won't find any of these guys becoming domesticated -- it's really more closely related to a hippopotamus, if you can believe that. They're also sometimes called Musk Hog, due to their rather strong, musky odor that is very reminiscent of a skunk. I still call them pigs, though, especially when they're roaming around in my yard.

BLACK-THROATED SPARROW

Big Bend is the place to be, especially if you're into birding at all. You won't believe this, but I took this shot of a Black-throated Sparrow from the comfort of my chair in the entrance booth. There was a lot of activity in the mesquite tree out front this day.

EARLY BLUEBONNET

Well, if you couldn't see the Grinch (how could you not?!), maybe you can see this Big Bend Bluebonnet, although it's rare for anybody to see any this time of year. I mean, it's January, for cryin' out loud! Here we have the entire northern realm of the US setting record lows (-50º in Maine, for instance), and we've got bluebonnets peeking their way up in our balmy 80º sunny weather way earlier than anyone's ever seen them. This is just nuts. They aren't up in any great quantities yet, but they're there just the same. Craziness, pure and simple.

IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE SUNRISE . . .

. . . just wait a few minutes; it'll change. Now we've all heard our own states of choice make that claim before (usuallly about the weather), but out here in West Texas it can be so true. Take, for instance, this sunrise one fine morning. I'd stopped off at Dog Canyon to take in the morning and saw these clouds taking shape above Persimmon Peak. Noting they were too high above Dog Canyon for any real photographic impact, I decided to head on to work and await developments there. I must say I was not disappointed. Sunrise properly documented, I began my usual morning routine to get things underway in the booth, when not ten minutes later I came across the next scene.

PERSIMMON PEAK IN FOG

Is that remarkable, or what? I couldn't believe that in just the span of ten minutes -- that's 700 seconds in dog years (no, wait; that's not right) -- the sky could change so much and the whole mood with it, all thanks to a bank of fog rolling in from the north. That nice glow given to it by the early sun was an added benefit.

ELECTRIC CHICKEN

Now, on a lighter note, I'd like to leave you with yet another favorite silhouette of mine -- the Electric Chicken. I first spotted this little phenomemon back in my first season here on my walk from the Visitor Center to the booth, so I thought I'd go ahead and add it in here. Don't think you're going to get a silhouette every week, though. The Grinch and the chicken are the only two I've found so far, but I'll keep looking. (Oh, and that's a yucca, by the way, in case you were wondering.)

BILDWERKE SHOW POSTCARD

Greetings once again, folks. Not much happening around here lately, except for this awesome gallery opening at Building 98 of the former Fort D. A. Russell in Marfa. I'd met Johannes and Sallie a couple of years ago and was totally jazzed to hear they had a gallery opening nearby. (Ha! If you can call 125 miles nearby.) It was a great show, though, and I'm so glad I made it. By the way, Bildwerke is German for "Picture Works."

DOUG WITH THE ARTISTS

Here I am in the foyer of Building 98 with friends Johannes and Sallie. Johannes is from Salzburg, Austria, and I just found out that Sallie's from, of all places, Fort Worth. I had no idea. Hey, we were neighbors!

SALLIE'S WORK

This is an example of Sallie's painting, although the photo really doesn't do it justice, as usual. You just can't get all the tonality and subtlety of the original. It's truly wonderful work.

PEN AND INK

And here's a piece of her drawing that totally floored me. I just couldn't stop looking at it. All of her work was so intricate and delicate, but this really had me locked in.

SALLIE AND JOHANNES

I didn't get any photos of Johannes' exquisite photography, but you can get a glimpse of some of his more graphic work behind them here. When I first laid eyes on these particular pieces (there were several styles represented throughout the exhibit), I was shocked to find they looked so similar to work I did a number of years ago. It was amazing. Well, that'll give you a taste of the event for now, but if you'd like to check out my photo gallery and catch the whole show, copy and paste this link in to your search window (I can't get the link to appear): http://highroad.smugmug.com/gallery/7303514_XiVsW#P-1-12

MY NEW DIGS

Well, howdy once again, buckaroos and buckarettes! The move to not only a permanent position but a new set of digs is done at last, and here are the digs. (It's really hard to capture a permanent position on "film." I'm still working on capturing it in my head!) It's not nearly as roomy as my old one-bedroom apartment was, but I lived in a much smaller trailer than this with a girlfriend and a medium-sized dog for four years once, so this is quite spacious compared to that.

THE LIVING ROOM

I won't give you the whole tour (I'm planning a photo gallery for that), but I thought I'd go ahead and touch on the basics -- like the living area here. Tight but cozy. The shiny black box with the Texas flag magnet on it in the lower left corner is the Beer Fridge, right there by the sofa. Now how convenient is that? Oh, yeah!

THE KITCHEN

And here we have the kitchen area, also small and compact. I like the way they put mirrors everywhere to give the illusion of space. Pretty psychological, that. I'm going to go ahead and use their Barbie dish drainer instead of my folding wooden one, as there's just not enough counter space for it.

THE OFFICE

And here's my office, as it were. It gets the job done, more or less, but I really haven't put it to the test yet with a major task. I have an extra TV tray available for that, if necessary.

THE BEDROOM

And finally, we have the bedroom. My little camera didn't have enough wide-angle lens to handle it all, but I think you get the picture. (ha ha) How much room does it really take to sleep comfortably, anyway? It's got a full-sized bed, so who's complaining?

THE OLD BOX 437

Of course, with the new digs outside the park comes the need for a new address a little more conveniently located than 34 miles away at Panther Junction. And here we have it: HC65, Box 437 -- only 6 miles away, and on the way to work -- in all its aerated splendor. (You can actually look straight through all nine mailboxes on these posts, thanks to all the bulletholes.) No, no; this will not do. So, it's off to the big city of Alpine I go to procure a newer, less meteorologically challenged mailbox.

THE NEW BOX 437

And, voila! We have a nice, new, shiny mailbox, all ready for business. Pretty nice, huh? Notice the bulletholes in Box 438, no doubt what brought about the ultimate demise of the old plastic Box 437. With any luck, that kind of malarkey is over and done with, but you never know about bored and drunk cowpokes.

MOONSET OVER PEPE

Moving on to more artistic and cultural endeavors, here's a shot I call "Moonset Over Pepe" in honor of the esteemed Ansel Adams' "Moonrise Over Hernandez" that I love so much. I was on one of my last to-work stopoffs at the Dog Canyon trailhead to stretch my legs and smell the desert morning. I just couldn't resist.

THEY DROPPED THE BOMB!!!

Well, maybe they did; maybe they didn't. Anyway, it was a curious and fortuitous cloud formation, to be sure, so I had to grab it quick. This cloud was moving right along.

BOMB CLOUD IN INFRARED

To give it a little more impact, I decided to shoot it through my dark red 87B Infrared filter. Pretty neat! The vegetation didn't separate out as much as I would've liked, but it was the cloud I was after, after all. It's a really nice effect, something like what you'd see in an electron microscope. Is it just me, or is that cloud staring at me? Shades of The Brain From Planet Arous.

MORNING RUN

Now here's something you don't get to see everyday -- a horse running through your yard. Actually, there were two of them, but I could only get out there in time to catch this one running along the road. Nice morning light, huh? We have a lot of that out here.

MAILBOX CORNER

And, finally, here's a little shot I did for my friend, Sally Jones, who recently lamented in an email about how she loved and missed the "mailbox corner" since they won't be coming back this year. This is for you, Sally! For those of you not familiar with the area, that's Highway 385 heading north toward the mountains, with Ranch Road 2627 -- the road whereon Stillwell's RV Park resides -- branching off to the right. (That's for you, Lyn.) The park boundary is about 3/4 of a mile or so behind me.

THE LONE PALM RESORT

Hey there, everyone. Just thought you'd be interested in seeing the new site my trailer got put into, right in front of the only palm tree around. Pretty sweet, huh? I'm much more pleased with this setting, especially since they're stringing a phone line to the pole right behind the trailer. Woo hoo!!!

OSPREY

The other day, while driving up to the Visitor Center to get my day started, I saw this huge, dark bird sitting on top of the flagpole. I wasn't sure just what I was looking at right at first, but it was a beautiful creature. In perusing my bird book, I found out it was an Osprey, most likely resting up on his way up from the Gulf toward his new home in the northern climes.

OSPREY FLAGPOLE ORNAMENT

I don't know if he thought he'd be less conspicuous impersonating a Bald Eagle flagpole ornament, but he did a pretty good job of it, nonetheless. What a great way to start your day, getting to see such a magnificent specimen showing off.

STORM BREWING

Hallelujah, brothers and sisters! Last evening a true miracle happened. I was sitting in the trailer watching Disc 2 of Comanche Moon when the wind kicked up, the air got very fragrant, and the pitter-patter of little rain droplets could be heard pelting the trailer's windows. I dashed outside to find this scene off to the northwest. I did a little dance, gave a couple of whoops, and dashed back inside to get my camera. I wasn't about to miss this.

HERE IT COMES

Then, looking a little further off toward the west, I beheld this sight, where the mountains were completely obscured by a curtain of rain. Hallelujah, indeed! As the wind was coming from that general direction, I knew it was only a matter of time before we got ours. I didn't have long to wait.

OH, YEAH!!!

In about 20-30 minutes, the wind began to howl, the pelting rain began in earnest, and the windows were cranked shut as the rain was coming in from all of them, no matter what side of the trailer they were on. Woo hoo!!! We're gettin' it now! This picture was taken through the doorknob access panel on the screen door. I'll tell you, after a winter of virtually no precipitation to speak of -- the last measurable amount occurring back in October -- this was truly a blessing. Since they're forecasting a 70% chance of more of this stuff coming our way today (it's raining even as I type), and 60% chance of more coming tonight, we might just have a showing of wildflowers around here this Spring, after all. Stay tuned for further updates as they occur.

DEER DING

Welcome to the Wild West, folks, where if you're not careful -- and sometimes even if you are -- this sort of thing can happen to you. I was headed to work on Tuesday morning early and shortly after I turned onto Highway 385, a 6-point buck came charging out of the bushes at me with his head down. I stomped the brakes and turned away from him, but he was on me in nothing flat and BOOM!, down he went. In looking back, he was in an out-and-out charge, as I've never seen a deer run across the road with his head down like that. After I got out and went back to check him out and move him off the road, a doe ran out of the same bushes and across the road, so he was definitely in his protective mode.

ANOTHER VIEW

And here's another angle to show the impact area where his body hit. Fortunately, he didn't knock out the headlight, but it does point down at the ground and is virtually useless for night driving and I can't get it adjusted out. Looks like a job for an auto body shop. Dang! Well, at least Pepe's still drivable.

MUTED MORNING

Not every morning starts this way but, with any luck, sometimes they do. I just couldn't believe the sights and smells of this desert morning. That jaggedy mountain to the left of the sunrise is Dove Mountain.

PERSIMMON GAP VISITOR CENTER

By now, most of you are aware of my transfer into the Persimmon Gap Visitor Center for Summer operations, as the budget wouldn't allow for two places to be open at the same time -- plus the Entrance Station turns into quite an effective oven during the summer months. This view (a historical view at that) is taken on the hillside across the road. You can see the new apartments off in the distance, just sitting there now due to the contractors being given the heave-ho for taking their own sweet time and not doing a decent job while they were doing it.

YUCCA WITH MOON

Down off the hill now, here's a little shot of the moon caught between the tall yucca and the front of the building. It adds a nice graphic touch, doesn't it?

FALSE PITAYA

One more image of plantlife before heading in -- the false pitaya in full bloom in the flowerbed to the right of the door. I promised you some photos of desert blooms, didn't I? Unfortunately, they're few and far between out here this year.

FRONT DESK

And here we are, inside the Visitor Center and looking at my new duty station. It's fun getting to sit (or, rather, stand) and chat with the visitors, for the most part, but when they pile in all at once, it loses some of its charm. Oh, well. (Obviously, this shot was taken out of sequence, as you can see the flag still folded on the counter.)

VISITOR CENTER RIVER DISPLAY

This is one of our display areas, picked for a couple of reasons: 1) It's got the most information for the display in the picture and, 2) It's just the best photo of all I took. This particular display deals with being on the river and showing what you should take with you when you go. I want that hat!

PICTURE WINDOW VIEW

This is by far one of the most appealing aspects of working in the VC -- the picture window. This photo is a rough approximation of the actual view, as all the displays blocked me from getting a good shot of it. You get the general idea, though. No back ends of any Exxon stations for Doug anymore. (The view at the camera store I worked in in Dallas.)

ROUTE 66 SHOT GLASS

Well, the day is done and it's time to kick back at home with a "beer-and-a-bump" as Garrison Keillor put it in A Prairie Home Companion. I was on my way back for another bump to accompany my beer when I caught this ray of light illuminating my Route 66 shotglass I got when I was at the Meramec Caverns in Missouri. I was just stunned by the lighting, so of course I had to grab the camera. I really like this shot.

THUNDERCLOUDS AHEAD

Welcome to my first Texas summer in ages, and all that that entails -- namely thunderstorms. Here's a thundercloud out to the east, possibly over Lake Amistad, although I can't be certain of that. I've since found out that you don't have to be near a large body of water to get the crap kicked out of you. One of these storms came rolling in the other day and I thought my trailer was going to get blown over. What a ride! Why I didn't catch the effect on video is beyond me. Dang!

MORE THUNDERCLOUDS

And here's another big bruiser, this one a little closer but still in the same general direction. This one is shaping up nicely.

WE'RE COOKIN' NOW

The same stormcloud, just a little later on in my drive. Boy, this thing is blossoming out beautifully. Just look at the flow of those clouds. This one would prove to be a harbinger of things to come this evening, though not as severe or prolonged as the previous storm. It still gave us cause for pause, though.

INCOMING STORM

And here she comes! Now, this isn't the same cloud that we saw just now, but another cloud in the whole system of buttkickers. One of the guys here said he saw a funnel touch down, but I never saw one and the National Weather Service didn't, either. Sure looks like the kind of cloud you'd expect one in, though, especially that area just above and to the right of the trees.